Etymology

umpty

U1M3P3T1Y4

Today it means: Indefinite in number; unspecified. Full definition →

Proto-Germanic *tigiwiz ← Proto-Indo-European *déḱm̥-t(-s) ← English ump
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The story

  1. Englishump
  2. Proto-Indo-European*déḱm̥
  3. Proto-Indo-European*déḱm̥-t(-s)
  4. Proto-Germanic*tegun(dz)
  5. Proto-Germanic*teguz
  6. Proto-Germanic*tigiwiz
  7. English todayumpty

From ump (“a colloquial name for the dash "—" in Morse code”) + -ty.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.